New Life Baptist Church held its launch service in Locust Grove, OK, on Sunday, January 7, 2024. Founding pastor Scott Goodwin shared, “We prayed a lot and thought a lot about when the best time was for our charter service, and we just felt the Lord’s leading for the first Sunday of the new year.” The day’s theme was “New Year, New Church, New Life.” There were exactly 100 in attendance.
The day included worship led by volunteers from Friendship Baptist Church in Owasso, OK, New Life Baptist Church’s sponsoring church, a sermon by Goodwin focused on II Corinthians 5:17 (“We have a new life and should be sharing it”), two individuals baptized, a signing of the charter with 16 charter members, and a lunch with inflatables for the kids. Goodwin added, “The best part of the day was during the lunch, I led a gentleman to Christ who has been attending our services for several weeks.”
Linzy and Carla Slayden, along with several members of Friendship Baptist Church, were in attendance. Linzy Slayden shared, “We are honored as a church to send out Scott and Livey to plant this new church in Locust Grove. We are excited to see what God will do through them and New Life Baptist Church. We saw Him do amazing things before Launch Day. We saw Him do amazing things on Launch Day. And we can’t wait to see what amazing things He has in store for them in the future.”
New Life Baptist Church had its first service along with a building dedication on Sunday, September 10, 2023. Two days later, on Tuesday, September 12, 2023, the church hosted the Oklahoma Baptist Bible Fellowship meeting. The OK BBF is a significant supporter. BBFI 3rd VP, Randy Abell, shared, “We are excited about another Gospel preaching church. We have full confidence in Scott and his backing from Linzy Slayden, Friendship Baptist Church, and the Oklahoma State Fellowship.” Goodwin was presented and approved as a BBFI Church Planter at the May 2023 Fellowship Meeting in Springfield, MO. His home church is Overland Park Baptist, pastored by Tracy Roby, and he is a 2023 pastoral ministries graduate of Baptist Bible College.
